If you love Pina Coladas . . . then you’ll love this Pina Colada trifle recipe. It’s a easy dessert full of coconut and pineapple flavors!

Learn how to make this easy pineapple and coconut trifle with all the reminiscent flavors of a Pina Colada. This trifle is so easy and there are many ways to make it with a lot of options as to using fresh or canned pineapple and so on. It will become a favorite summer dessert to make when you want to enjoy something cool and tropical.

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Well as you know from the many trifle recipes on this blog, my family loves a good trifle dessert. We love how EASY trifle desserts are to make and how refreshing they are with all the cool pudding and fluffy whipped cream. This summer my youngest daughter has been learning to cook meals. She’s been making meals for us for and has goal to make them for 2 weeks. So she wanted to make something fun and came up with the idea to try a Pina Colada trifle! We love making our own NON-alcoholic frozen pina colada drinks, and she knew we would love the flavor combo in an easy trifle dessert. So here’s the pina colada dessert she and I came up with. There’s a different version of pina colada trifle at 12 Tomatoes if you want to compare.

If you want to try some more trifle desserts, this is the place! Check out these easy trifle recipes:

What is a trifle dessert?

Trifle is an English dessert, traditionally made with sponge cake and custard. Trifle desserts usually have fruit in them too. Sometimes they will soak the cake in wine too, but since my family and I are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we don’t drink alcohol of any kind and so we soak it in fresh whipping cream instead! Trifles are layered desserts that don’t involve a lot of baking and prep time. Besides baking the cake (and you can always just buy a sponge cake instead), is a great dessert for the summer.

How to make Pina Colada Trifle

Here’s what you need to make Pina Colada Trifle:

1 cake mix, prepared, baked, and sliced into cubes, about 3-4 cups of cubed cake. I used a Duncan Hines Pineapple Supreme cake which was DELICIOUS and full of pineapple flavor. If you want to add some pineapple flavor to a regular yellow cake mix, simply add some pineapple juice to the batter before you bake it.

2 small boxes of vanilla instant pudding, prepared. About 4 cups of pudding.

1 can of crushed pineapple, drained (save the juice)

1 small can of pineapple tidbits, drained OR fresh pineapple chunks

1-2 cups of coconut flakes

1/3 cups of Cream of Coconut. I used Coco Real Gourmet Cream of Coconut. It has a delicious, creamy, sweet coconut flavor. I found ours at the grocery store. It is often used to make pina colada drinks.

1 tsp. of coconut extract flavoring, optional

4 cups of fresh whipping cream. You can also use Cool Whip here, but I love the freshly whipped stuff.

Prepare your pudding with milk as directed on the box. After pudding has set, add your add about 1/4 cup of the reserved pineapple juice to the pudding and mix well. Then add the crushed pineapple and the coconut flakes to the pudding. Another option is to add the coconut flakes to the whipped cream if you want. There are many ways to switch up this dessert.

Begin layering your dessert in a trifle dish or medium sized clear bowl. Start with a layer of the pudding mixture. Then add 1 cup of your cake cubes. Continue with whipped cream, pineapple chunks, and cream of coconut. With the Coco Real Cream of Coconut, you can just simply drizzle it right out of the squirt bottle.

Repeat all the layers, until you run out of ingredients, ending with whipped cream on top.

1 cake mix, prepared, baked, and sliced into cubes, about 3-4 cups of cubed cake. I used a Duncan Hines Pineapple Supreme cake which was DELICIOUS and full of pineapple flavor. If you want to add some pineapple flavor to a regular yellow cake mix, simply add some pineapple juice to the batter before you bake it.

2 small boxes of vanilla instant pudding, prepared. About 4 cups of pudding.

1 can of crushed pineapple, drained (save the juice)

1 small can of pineapple tidbits, drained OR fresh pineapple chunks

1-2 cups of coconut flakes

1/3 cups of Cream of Coconut. I used Coco Real Gourmet Cream of Coconut. It has a delicious, creamy, sweet coconut flavor. I found ours at the grocery store. It is often used to make pina colada drinks.

1 tsp. of coconut extract flavoring, optional

4 cups of fresh whipping cream. You can also use Cool Whip here, but I love the freshly whipped stuff.

Instructions

Whip your whipped cream. Add the coconut extract or flavoring to the cream and mix well. Set aside.

Prepare your pudding with milk as directed on the box. After pudding has set, add your add about 1/4 cup of the reserved pineapple juice to the pudding and mix well. Then add the crushed pineapple and the coconut flakes to the pudding. Another option is to add the coconut flakes to the whipped cream if you want. There are many ways to switch up this dessert.

Begin layering your dessert in a trifle dish or medium sized clear bowl. Start with a layer of the pudding mixture. Then add 1 cup of your cake cubes. Continue with whipped cream, pineapple chunks, and cream of coconut. With the Coco Real Cream of Coconut, you can just simply drizzle it right out of the squirt bottle.

Repeat all the layers, until you run out of ingredients, ending with whipped cream on top. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

About Lisa Jorgensen

I was hit by an intoxicated driver when I was walking on the sidewalk. I was also 6 months pregnant at the time. I learned a huge lesson about miracles and not taking life for granted. I believe in finding the good and making life blissful with family, food, and fun ideas. Every moment matters.

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